Have you ever been told not to view God as a cosmic vending machine?
If you’ve grown up around church like I have, there’s a decent chance that at one point or another you’ve been warned against approaching God to simply get stuff in return, salvation included. To be sure, this is a real danger, and a warning we need to hear. But if we just hear this warning, we can easily have an imbalanced view of salvation.
This is how I first read Psalm 70 – nervous that I might create an idol out of salvation. So the forth verse stuck out to me. This line in particular:
May those who love your salvation say evermore, ‘God is Great!’
As soon as I read it, the caution lights went off. My theology alarms sounded. I wasn’t falling for a simplistic reading of this verse that might lead me to have an obviously shallow focus. Of course God is great, but…
I AM NOT TO LOVE SALVATION. I AM TO LOVE GOD, I said to myself confidently.
Nailed it. Idol averted.
However, when I began to play context police in Psalm 70 – to bolster my oh-so-mature efforts to focus on God rather than his salvation – I was quickly confronted and challenged. To the dismay of my foregone conclusion, the rest of the psalm clearly shows that loving salvation is good and appropriate. In fact, a proper love for God’s salvation actually exalts God. Here’s how.
First, loving God’s salvation exalts him when we recognize the urgency of our need for it. And it is absolutely an urgent matter. When phrases like “make haste” (v. 1) and “do not delay” (v. 5) are employed, it’s because David, the psalmist, has an accurate picture of reality, one that we share with him. Namely, destruction is imminent without God’s gracious intervention. Our recognition of this and urgent plea to God for help honors him as Savior.
Second, we glorify God when we love his salvation because the nature of his salvation reflects his perfect justice. That’s a mouthful, so here’s another way to say it. Focusing on how completely God saves us highlights how completely supreme he is. He’s not doing anything halfway, so when he saves us, he doesn’t just lift us out of chaos and evil. Rather, he calms the chaos and rights the wrongs. When we see David ask for the shame and dishonor of his enemies (v. 2-3), we see a holy desire for the consummation of our own desires for perfect justice – the establishment of his eternal kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven.
Third, God is lifted high when we love his salvation because doing so recognizes him as the powerful savior and us as the powerless beneficiaries. True salvation requires the desperation of one who, in humility, says at once, “I am poor and needy” (v. 5) and “God is great” (v. 4). Isn’t this faith in its simplest form? It’s saying, I trust you because I cannot trust myself.
In our sin, we’re able to divorce the gift from the giver and worship the created rather than the creator. This is why we’re warned against treating God as a cosmic vending machine. We’re like children who love their parents after they buy us a new toy and hate them when they tell us “no.” We can easily love the idea of salvation but hate the giver of it. As a result, there are plenty who give empty lip service to God as their Savior but fail to submit to him as Lord. Loving this kind of “salvation” is not what Psalm 70 has in mind.
True love of God’s salvation is marked by a sense of urgency, a desire for perfect justice, and a humble desperation for his saving power. Such a love for salvation doesn’t create an idol out of it. Rather, it exalts the Giver of it.
Two Challenges:
- If you haven’t experienced authentic salvation, realize the urgency of it, the completeness of it, and your desperate need for it. Then humble yourself before the only One who can save, and trust him for it. Through the sacrifice of Jesus (God the Son) in our place, we can be at peace with our completely just, yet totally gracious God and look forward to the day when He returns to establish his forever Kingdom on the earth.
- If you already know God’s salvation in this way, love it. Recognize it. Reflect upon it. Encourage other believers with it. Spread the wonder of it to everyone. I think you’ll find that loving true salvation leads us to praise and thank the Savior better. As one who is saved, you can’t love God without his salvation… so don’t try to.
-- Jonathan Lenning